So much work goes into providing a great guest experience. The food is ordered and put away; the restaurant is cleaned and prepared; the staff is hired, trained, and coached; the back of house comes in early to make the sauces and daily specials. And all of that prep work is just the tip of the iceberg — it’s complete before the first guest even arrives.
At PerformanceScope, we know only those who've spent time in the hospitality business truly know the effort that goes into the process. Though you’re well aware of the effort you’re putting into your customer experience, do you honestly know what your guests are getting out of it? Today, we’re here to discuss your guests’ honest opinions and what they mean for your business. Do you know the truth, or are you just making assumptions?
Your Guests Arrive: It’s Go Time
Everything’s clean, prepared, ready, and waiting. Eager diners wait patiently outside. Finally, the doors unlock, and the guests pour in. It’s game time.
If everyone and everything is hitting on all cylinders, the guests receive a warm greeting, a friendly smile, and a welcoming gesture in. The team follows the sequence of service, nailing all the steps. They offer delicious drinks, suggest appetizers, talk up the daily specials — delivering the guest experience as you planned. The outcome is all guests having a wonderful and memorable experience! All guests? Hmm. Are you sure?
The Numbers Don’t Lie
The truth is, about 10-20% of guests are less than satisfied. And less than half those guests tell the server or the manager about it. Therefore, operators don’t know there is a problem and can’t do anything to make it better. These guests just slip away, unhappy. This is known as customer churn. Losing guests because you didn’t know they weren’t happy.
Even If You Can’t See Them, Problems Are Still Problems
See, the truth is, no matter how much prep and work goes in, there are still problems. That’s just the nature of the business. Orders come out wrong; tables are neglected for one reason or another; the food or service is disappointing. It happens.
But if you don’t know what’s going on, you’re just flying blind. It used to be understood that one bad guest experience results in 11 people being told. But today, those numbers are multiplied by online reviews. What was once 11 people being told around the kitchen table and the water cooler is now hundreds of people. And unfortunately, the bad review lives forever on your business profile.
Customer Experience Measurement: The Game Changer
Since 2003, PerformanceScope has been helping operators measure and manage customer experience. The process is simple: Ask guests about their experience in a safe and structured way, using smart survey technology to capture the voice of the guest.
How does it work? Print the survey invitation at the bottom of your guest checks. Coach servers to circle the invitation. Guests visit www.guest-feedback.com and tell the restaurant in their own words about their visit.
Real guests answer critical, need-to-know questions about their customer experience. They discuss critical customer touchpoints like:
● The warm and friendly greeting
● Taste and flavor of food
● Prompt and attentive service
● Cleanliness of the restaurant
● Overall atmosphere of your establishment
Guests then rate their overall satisfaction, likelihood to recommend, and likelihood to return. With these insights, the operator knows how they are doing and if they need to improve any one particular area.
More importantly, as the operator, you learn how to recover unhappy guests. See, the survey is smart. Guests that had a less than acceptable experience are routed through a special section of the survey to capture the details of their dissatisfaction. The survey also captures the guest’s contact information, so a manager can contact them and make it right. What’s the result? You lose fewer guests to guest churn and drive up comp sales.
Are Customer Feedback Surveys Right for You?
The guest feedback survey gives guests a great way to provide honest and insightful feedback about their experience. The operators obtain a clear picture of their strengths and opportunities for improvement. With this critical Voice of the Customer data, operators can coach the staff in the areas they need to improve and on the customer touchpoints that matter most.
Operators review their trends, compare scores across multiple locations, and even compare scores to the industry. After all, it may sound nice that overall satisfaction is 85%, but if the industry average is 90%, there’s still work to do. And knowing exactly what aspect of the guest experience is falling short makes all the difference.
As an operator, customer feedback surveys give you an invaluable tool for improving your customer experience and retaining your guests. That said, the technology may not be for everyone. Reasons you should not use guest-feedback include:
1. You don’t care if guests are satisfied
2. You don’t care about your online review ratings
3. You already have an accurate, actionable and trackable measure of actual guest experience
You’re only as good as the last experience. Take control. Get in the know.
Ready to Improve Your Customer Experience? Contact PerformanceScope Today
If you’re ready to take decisive action toward improving your customer experience, it’s time to partner with our team at PerformanceScope. For nearly 20 years, we’ve been helping hospitality operators excel through gathering and analyzing customer data and delivering actionable insights that truly matter. To learn more about how our customer feedback surveys can propel your business forward, give our team a call at 952-847-3393 or connect with us online. Ready to see our solutions in action? Try PerformanceScope for free!